The weekend before Memorial Day, I went to see two movies, Life of the Party, starring Melissa McCarthy, and Deadpool 2. Needless to say, only one of these movies lived up to the hype and it wasn’t Life of the Party.
From the movie description on IMDb:
“When her husband suddenly dumps her, longtime dedicated housewife Deanna (McCarthy) turns regret into re-set by going back to college – landing in the same class and school as her daughter, who’s not entirely sold on the idea. Plunging headlong into the campus experience, the increasingly outspoken Deanna – now Dee Rock – embraces freedom, fun and frat boys on her own terms, finding her true self in a senior year no one ever expected.”
I can only describe this movie as cringeworthy, chock full of vagina jokes and mining a one-sided sexual relationship with a callow frat boy for bawdy humor that just continually fell flat. It also had what felt like a few glaring plot holes.
Got some spoilers ahead, if you haven’t seen it yet.
The premise of this film rests on Deanna and her divorce from her husband, who leaves her for a real estate agent. The plot hole comes into play when Deanna apparently gets nothing in the divorce even though they’ve been married for twenty years and her husband is the one cheating. She decides to go back to college but doesn’t have the money to pay for tuition as her ex-husband cuts her off. Cue the “Keep Dee Rock in College Fundraising Party” plot device that culminates in a not-so-surprise cameo from Christina Aguilera.
I have to say that the movie did have some shining comedic moments, such as Deanna killing it at an 80s-themed college party but those moments were few and far between. I wish McCarthy had kept the storyline more sweet and redemptive instead of going for the low-brow humor that she did. Couldn’t Deanna have wound up with her old classmate, now her Archeology professor at the end instead? It was an opportunity lost.
I give this movie 2 out of 3 stars. Go see Deadpool 2 instead. Just sayin’.
Hope you had a good weekend.
Kind regards,
Anne
Tea and Trifles 